The Bastard
by Mick Howell
Summary: How Gendry came to live with his uncle Stannis. Another spin-off of "Fawn".


ASOIAF: Modern!AU

The Bastard

Disclaimer: I Own Nothing.

Summary: How Gendry came to live with his uncle Stannis. A spin-off of "Fawn".

* * *

Stannis could remember the day he first met Gendry Waters, his nephew. He could remember it almost as well as he could remember meeting Mya, and better than he could Robert's other numerous children, even his legitimate ones. Stannis contributed it mostly to the fact Gendry was Robert's first born son, like Mya had been Robert's first daughter and child in general, and both children's births had been made a big deal out of by Robert at the time.

Stannis remembered the morning Robert called him, laughing and excited, telling him that girl he slept with some nine months ago and gotten pregnant had just given birth that night (not that Robert had been there—he had probably only found out a few minutes before Stannis), and he told him to wake Renly and drag themselves down to the hospital on lower East side. The then eight year-old Renly had not taken well to being woken early, and he certainly hadn't been too impressed with his new nephew upon seeing him. More mildly curious about than anything. Even at nineteen, Stannis couldn't see the big deal either.

The newborn was big, yes, with black wisps of hair like theirs, and possessed already an astounding resemblance to his father. But he was a bastard who would take his mother's name, Waters, and whom Robert would lose interest in within a few years, if not months. Still, for the moment, Robert was enamored with the boy, smiling proudly down at him in his arms, and even thanking the disheveled blond mother. She smiled politely in turn, as if the fact she had brought a child into the world had been no trouble at all to her, like returning a lost wallet or helping someone with their groceries.

She looked like that type of person, Stannis thought. A courteous and hardworking girl who smiled friendlily at even strangers because she didn't want to seem rude. Friendly smiles were probably what got her into her present situation (smiling at a drunk Robert at a bar was a bad idea unless you wanted to have him trying to get under your skirt). Her name was Darina, something Robert would surely forget before her son was even a year old.

But Stannis hadn't said anything about that to Robert. He took his turn holding his nephew—Gendry, Darina said she'd named the boy. After some relative of hers or whomever—and hadn't said much during the entire brief visit before the girl's family showed up and the Baratheons wordlessly took their cue to leave. Robert eagerly so.

Leaving that hospital that day, all Stannis had been thinking was maybe now that he had two children out of wedlock that Robert might finally learn to use a condom.

He didn't think the least bit about Gendry.

* * *

It was a full eight years and several bastards later when Stannis saw Gendry again.

It was all part of a big PR stunt courtesy of Varys, an advisor of Robert's. His brother was campaigning for another term as mayor, and in view of his recent weight gain and tabloid exploits, as well as his wife's surliness, as well as many, many other things that made Stannis want to change his last name sometimes, Varys had come up with the brilliant idea of exploiting the whole family-man dynamic. Robert had a wife, sure, and three children, yes, but no one would ever have known that considering Cersei seemed utterly intent on her children being Lannisters in all but name. They didn't even look like Baratheons—which just made the tabloid giddy with possibilities—so of course, the next best thing was to use the children who not only looked the part, but could act it.

Varys gathered seven of Robert's bastards from across the city—the ones he had personally described as the most Baratheon-like of the thirteen Varys knew existed. But before introducing the children to the public, of course the rest of Robert's advisors would have to have a look at them as well, to make sure they were suitable of up-holding the family-friendly image they were hoping for. So, one Friday afternoon near the end of spring, right before campaign season was about to start heating up, they all gathered at their campaign headquarters on the lower East side around a long rectangular conference table with all the chairs on one side, and had each child brought in, as if they were auditioning for a play or something.

The first was Mya, who had been twelve at the time. Varys began by describing the girl's admirable qualities: she did well in school, played sports, and enjoyed hiking as a hobby. He made mention of her stubbornness, so much like her father's that some people from around her neighborhood called her a mule. Mya didn't seem to take that as insult. The girl stood before them, dignified and confident (though not seeming very happy to be there, Stannis noted), and was polite to all of them throughout their interview with her, in which they asked questions that Stannis thought personally to be nonsense. The girl left with a quiet goodbye and a bit of a stomp in her step, her chin held high.

Next had been a girl named Bella, apparently eight years old, almost nine, and the daughter of some stripper Robert slept with during his turbulent break up with Lyanna Stark. Bella, according to Varys, was a spirited girl who enjoyed teasing others and making japes far too lewd for a girl her age, but got away with it on sheer charm (like her father did at her age, Stannis thought grinding his teeth slightly). The girl despite her age had practically flirted her way through the interview and had skipped out of the room, black curls bouncing on her shoulders, seeming very confident in her self.

And then came Gendry. Unlike his sisters, the book entered the room not confidently, but with shoulders hunched guardedly and blues boring into the men at the table with a wariness Stannis had never known a child to possess. He stood before them with his hands behind his back and his head tilted down towards his feet. Varys had introduced the boy as while not being the best academic student, and being remarked as bull-headed by most who knew him from teachers to fellow students to neighbors, the boy was very hardworking, noted as talented by his art teacher, and willing to learn if properly persuaded (apparently the boy would not sway without a proper reasoning as to _why_ he should do something rather than simply do as he was told; for this reason he was not well-liked by some teachers). Throughout most of the interview, the boy had had to be told to look up and not down at his feet, and he had frowned and answered questions almost shyly, and when asked like his sisters before him if he'd like to get to know his father, the boy had only replied, "He's never wanted anything to do with me before, so why does it matter now? He can do what he wants for all I care."

With that, his interview had been over and Stannis watched as he was escorted out of the room, his little brother Edric entering just as he was exiting.

Later on, when deciding which children to use for the campaign, Mya and Bella were easily decided in, since Mya seemed mature enough for her age to behave herself and do her job, and Bella was charming enough to weasel some votes out of some softies, and Edric's inexplicable admiration of Robert put him on the list automatically. Sadly, the twins, Dia & Pollo, did not make the cut, if only because Dia was hyperactive to the point she barely made it through her interview without bouncing off the walls, and Pollo wasn't able to think on his feet very well, which could be disastrous if he were ever to give an interview to an actual reporter. Another boy, Hans, would have made the cut if not for the fact he had a temper even shorter than Robert's. The boy was only six and had a chip on his shoulder to match a Tasmanian Devil. Gendry wouldn't have made it either—he was too sullen, too shy, they said—but they wanted to keep the boy to girl ratio even and since he was better than his younger brothers, the kept him on.

Amazingly, during the summer campaign Gendry did rather well. He tended to brood occasionally and shy away from others during events, stewing in a corner somewhere, hiding from Bella (who'd taken to poking fun and teasing him—"_Leave me alone!_" "What? I'm not even touching you!" "_Yes. You. Are! _Make her stop, Mr. Arryn_, please!_"), and Edric (who'd come to love having a big brother to Gendry's annoyance), and usually finding sanctuary with Mya or Jon Arryn. Mya seemed happy to let Gendry hover close to her, where he knew Bella wouldn't approach (the sisters did not seem to care for each other) and Edric was simply too shy to go near his eldest sister quiet yet, and where people would not ask Gendry too many questions, even reporters and sponsors of the campaign. All they saw was a shy, somber little boy hiding behind his sister's skirt at a dinner party and sighed fondly at the adorableness before moving along. The same with Jon Arryn; when Gendry stuck close to the old man's side, practically hanging from his coat tails, no one batted an eye, since Jon Arryn was after all Robert's surrogate father-figure, they assumed he might as well be the boy's grandfather and left it at that.

When elections were over and Robert emerged the victor, of course the children soon drifted into obscurity again. According to one off-hand comment from Varys during a meeting shortly after Robert's re-election, each of the children had received a gift in return for their services "from their thankful father": Mya, new expensive climbing gear; Bella, lots of dolls and new clothes; Edric, sports memorabilia of his father's old college team; Gendry, a recommendation to a school for gifted children.

Apparently the boy was very happy there.

* * *

It was four years later that Stannis saw his nephew again, and it was not under happy circumstances. Not in the least.

It started with a phone call. He had been sitting in his home office, looking over some paperwork when his cell had begun to ring. It was his business line, so of course he answered.

"Hello," He said as his eyes still skimmed the inventory for last month's office supplies. Gods, someone was stealing staplers again.

"Is this Stannis Baratheon?" A soft woman's voice asked on the other end.

"Yes." Stannis answered curtly as he circled the word "staplers" on the paper before him and wrote a note investigate the recent shortage later.

"Mr. Baratheon, I'm calling to inform you that one Miss Darina Waters was in an accident approximately an hour ago—"

"Who?" Stannis asked, putting down his pen and wondering where he had heard that name before. "Darina Waters, sir. We don't have you listed as next of kin on her documents, but when she woke up briefly before heading into surgery, she asked us to call you and gave us your number." Suddenly, Stannis remembered where he had heard that name: she was the mother of one of Robert's bastards. Why would she have called him though? Surely she had family who would be concerned for her in this situation, so why—the boy, Stannis thought. Of course, the boy.

"What about her son?" Stannis asked, and the woman was quiet for a long time. He heard whispering on the other end of the line. "Gendry Waters has been in stable condition for the last twenty minutes, but his mother is still in surgery and his mother asked for you to please come down."

Stannis had almost declined, said he was far too busy and they should try and contact Miss Waters' actual family. But he didn't. Because suddenly, he realized that was something Robert would do.

So instead, he told the woman he'd be down soon. He put aside his work for the moment, put on his coat and told a maid to tell Selyse and Shireen he was visiting someone at the hospital if they asked where he'd gone off to.

* * *

After a short ferry ride from Dragon Stone he arrived at King's Landing, city hall, and took a cab to the hospital. When he arrived at the front desk, he asked about Miss Waters, to which the nurse on duty replied she was still in surgery, but her son was in the children's ward. She asked if he'd like to see him—well, actually she asked if he's like to see his _son_—to which Stannis replied that would be fine and that Gendry was not his son, but his nephew. The nurse had nodded and given him directions.

He found Gendry in a hospital bed on the far end of the ward, the blue race-car patterned curtains drawn to block him off from his rowdier temporary roommates. How agitating it must have been for the twelve year old to be surrounded by a bunch of snot-nosed six year olds fresh of tonsillectomies and hyped up on too much medication. Stannis approached the bed, where Gendry lay on his side, staring at the white wall next to his bed, his head bandaged up and Stannis could see bruises forming everywhere the boy had exposed skin.

Awkwardly, Stannis sat in the chair next to the boy's bed.

"You may not remember me," Stannis began.

"You're my uncle Stannis…"Gendry whispered. "Why are you here?"

"Your mother had them call." Stannis answered simply. The boy rolled over to face him.

"Is she okay?" He asked. "Will my mom be alright?"

Stannis answered the only way he knew how. "I don't know."

* * *

Three hours later, a doctor approached Stannis saying the Miss Waters was finally out of surgery and would be waking up soon. Thankfully, Gendry was asleep. Stannis nodded and allowed his self to be led to her room.

She was already awake when he arrived, up was hooked up to machines and bandaged up like a mummy. Her eyes were blackened and he could hear how much trouble she was having breathing.

He hesitantly sat in the chair next to her bed, her gray eyes following him the whole way. "Why did you call me?" Stannis asked after a tense silence. She heaved a low sigh, though it was obviously very painful. "Because I knew your brother would either ignore or forget about me. Do you really think Robert would be sitting where you are now if I had had them call you instead?" She said. She should have sounded bitter and resentful. But she didn't. She sounded as if she was completely excepting of the fact her son's father was a selfish fat glutton.

"No." Stannis replied. "But that still doesn't explain why me? What about your family?"

"My parents are dead, my uncle has gone senile, and my brothers are…well, we haven't seen them since Gendry was two." She answered. "We don't have anyone but each other, me and Gendry. But…I knew if something were to happen to me, someone would have to be around to look after him. Robert doesn't care though, so I thought of you. You seem responsible, and Gendry said that back during the campaign, you seemed okay—better than Robert at least. Gendry doesn't like Robert."

"I figured as much. I've never seen a boy scowl so much at his own father."

"But at his own brother, I'm sure you've not only seen, but done plenty of times." She smiled at him, but though it should have been laughing, it was pained.

They sat in silence for a long time after her smile fell before Stannis finally spoke.

"What do you want from me?" He asked, and Darina closed her eyes and breathed deeply through her nose. When she spoke, her voice cracked.

"The doctors don't know if I'll make it. I'm going in for another surgery tomorrow morning. If something happens to me…there's an insurance policy, to cover funeral expenses and such, but there'll be enough left over for Gendry to do with as he pleases. When he's old enough, I mean. I need someone to make sure he doesn't waste it all—kids can be stupid with money—and give him good advise on what to do with it. There's also my parents' house, we've been living there since they died and I own it, but Gendry's twelve, of course he can't live on his own, so I need someone for him to live with until he's old enough to live on his own. What I'm asking is a lot, I know, but…" She trailed off. "It's only just in case." She croaked.

"Only just in case." Stannis repeated. "What makes you believe I would do what you're asking me?" He asked, and Darina gave a weak shrug.

"You seem very dutiful." She said simply, and then her eyes drifted shut and he watched as her pained breathing evened out and she fell to sleep. He then stood up from his chair and left the room.

He went home and finished the paperwork he had put aside earlier.

* * *

The next day, right in the middle of breakfast, he got another call from the hospital.

Darina had passed away in the night, and they were asking him to come down and sign some forms for the boy if he was willing. After breakfast, told the maids to prepare a guest bedroom and he once again made the journey to the hospital.

When he arrived, Gendry was in his bed, staring up at the ceiling, looking pale except for his red eyes. Stannis sat beside his bed and Gendry muttered one simple thing to him.

"I'm going to go live with now, aren't I?"

"Yes." Stannis replied, and a few hours later, he walked beside a nurse as Gendry was wheeled out the hospital, and he helped the boy into the taxi waiting for them.

The drive to the harbor was long and silent.

* * *

**A/N: This was painful to write…**

**Anyways, more spin-offs to come. Still trying to come up with the name for this series. Hope you enjoy, please review, and check out the other spin-offs of "Fawn" and "Fawn" itself. **


End file.
